le 25 mars 2005

So here's the Batmobile. Possibly the coolest car ever. I know I sure wanted one when I was little, and maybe I still kind of want one now. There were many Batmobile designs over the years, but this one is still my favorite. This one appeared in the 1989 Batman movie, and its sequel Batman Returns. After that, Michael Keaton stopped playing Batman, and the movies went downhill (like the redesigns of the Batmobile following this one). This model of the Batmobile is primarily cast from metal with some plastic parts (cockpit, turbine, lights), and is about 10 inches long.

The vehicle looks pristine in this image. Look at those gorgeous highlights on the front end!! I love the way the light creeps over the tops of the fenders. I have been asked if this image was airbrushed to give it that sharp look, but it was not. This is how the vehicle actually appeared. This image is a composite of two photos I took of the Batmobile. Other than that, the only modifications I made to the texture of the image was the removal of some dust particles that landed on the fenders while I was taking these pictures.

le 22 mars 2005

When I was ten years old, there was no car cooler than the DeLorean from Back to the Future. I would've killed for a model of it like this one here. Check out those gull-wing doors! Last year, I decided I would get models of the cars from my three favorite childhood movies (which I still adore to this day): Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and Batman. Getting these cars was not out of the ordinary for me, as my friends and family will tell you. At twenty years old, I still haven't completely given up on toys.

Look at this sweet model of the Back to the Future Delorean. The DeLorean was created by a man named John DeLorean. The first production model was completed in 1981, and by 1983 the DeLorean Motor Company was closed. Only 8,583 models were ever manufactured. Unfortunately (and by extreme coincidence), the day after I took these photos of the DeLorean, it was reported in the news the John DeLorean passed away at the age of 80.

I snapped these shots in my dorm using two white poster boards and my posable desk lamp. The model is seven inches long.

le 20 mars 2005

This image composition was inspired by the great American photographer Jerry Uelsmann and a photo taken by Drew Rohaly. What I have done here is taken two of Drew's photos and manupulated them into one composition. The sky of clouds is from a picture of a practice field on the Penn State Campus near East Halls. The concrete platform, railing, stairway, and girl are all part of a photo of Eastview Terrace behind my dorm. The most challenging part of creating this composition was editing the railings. I had to cut out the area between each rail by hand. Looks like she's on the edge of forever.

I love very much the posture of the girl in the photo and the shadow laying behind her. The perspective of the platform she is standing on and the shadow falling on it are perfect. Everything about it inspired me to create an image composition in the flavor of Jerry Uelsmann's great work. Of course, I used photoshop to do this and Mr. Uelsmann did all of his work without the aid of digital technology.

I have always posted by original photos here, but in this case I'm making an exception. This image composition is a combination of two photos taken by Drew (and manipulated/posted here with permission). The original photo this was derived from had far too much epic potential to leave the girl simply overlooking Eastview Terrace!

le 18 mars 2005

This is the greatest picture of my roommate Drew and his Dad that I have ever seen. Look at those guys, what a duo! I snapped this shot at dinner one weekend when Derek stayed with us. This expression of fatherly love at dinner was only the beginning to one of the greatest weekends in the history of weekends.

Mr. Rohaly is pretty much a legend in our dorm room. It's been over 20 years now since he made Drew, and as you can see here, he's still loves, and is very proud of his boy after all that time.

le 17 mars 2005

Here's another ad I have created for my advertising class. We had to create a public service announcement to promote the Central PA Ulster Project. It's an organization that brings teens from Northern Ireland (where the Protestants and Catholics having been fighting) to the US to live with a host family and engage in fun activities that promote understanding and other good things. My professor Dr. Leslie Turner is involved with the organization.

I used this image of the human figure interrupting a line of ammunition to represent the human element that is needed in order to break the "chain of violence." I hoped to capture attention with the over-sized, off-kilter copy above the simple image. I wanted the ad to tug on the audience's conscience without getting touchy-feely. This ad turned out to be more of a call to action than a call for empathy.

le 15 mars 2005

Sometimes I think it would be so much fun to experience the 1920s and 30s. I love the architecture, design aesthetics, and fashions of those times. Watching the classic Bogart and Bacall movies (and most recently The Aviator) reminded me of that. The cars and buildings of that time are unquestionably cool. Back then, people knew style and class.

I snapped a few shots of this model over Spring break along with the Ford Anglia. This one is a 1930 Model A Ford Tudor Sedan just like my Dad use to have when I was in middle school. Although a real pain in the butt to get started up sometimes (no power steering either), it was an all-around sweet car! I wish he had it long enough for me to be able to drive it around. It was quite a bit larger than this 6-inch long model, but it looked exactly alike! I love the shadows on the front end, front wheel, and below the car. This, like the Anglia, was taken indoors but using sunlight as the only light source.

le 14 mars 2005

The reflection in front of the car is real. I really like how such a clear reflection came through on the wood surface. You don't normally imagine a reflection like that on a surface of wood. This was taken in plain sunlight from a window about a foot away from the front of the car.

The 1961 Ford Anglia in this picture is about three inches long. My Dad drove this same exact model in green while he was stationed in England. You may also recognize this as Ron Weasley's flying car from the second Harry Potter movie. Cute little machine. The angle of the rear window and rear end definitely give this car some character. Take note of the mirrors placed halfway down the front end.

le 8 mars 2005

This little guy is my cousin Ryan, of the Dancing Machine fame back in the early days of GoCarlo.com. He loves to be photographed or filmed, but always wants to stop so he can see the picture I just took. Ryan doesn't stand still for very long, so you have to be ready for action when you try to snap some pictures of him. It took three attempts to get this picture right because he we distracted every couple milliseconds to look somewhere else or just fidget in general. What a cute little guy.

He loves Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and other superheros. He and I love to play with toys. Whenever I visit, that's what we spend most of our time doing. If not that, then we're chasing each other around the house.

le 3 mars 2005

I love my new advertising major! This is the latest assignment for my advertising class. We were asked to design an ad for a dog lover's magazine. The ad had to promote the new "YumYum doggie bits-kets." The assignment was supposed to assess our ability to target a specific audience as well as our ability to know our client and their product. I kept waiting for Donald Trump to pull up in his limo to see how I was doing on the task (for all the Apprentice fans reading this).

This was our second design task for this class. My first ad for a product called SunTea was voted second favorite by my class.

I think the idea to not actually feature a dog or the product in the ad worked out beautifully in concept and for practicality's sake. The crumbs you see in the pictures are actually from a granola bar that I crumbled onto a white foam board. The color scheme was derived from the brand I used, Iams. I wanted to maintain continuity with their brandname's image. Everything you see there in the ad (except for the Iams logo) came from either my camera or Photoshop. It was a fun assignment!